I’m an engineer who used Zen to 'de-script' my anxiety. I wrote down the fables that helped me most, and I want to share one here.
Hi everyone. I’ve noticed many here are tired of the 'more, more, more' cycle that leads to burnout and debt. As an engineer, I used to think life was about optimizing for maximum output, until I discovered Zen.
I want to share a central fable from my book about how we get trapped by our own desires:
THE MONKEY AND THE TRAP OF GREED
In the forest, hunters leave traps made of hollow pumpkins with a small hole. Inside, they put sweetened rice. A monkey finds the pumpkin, reaches in, and grabs a handful of rice.
But when he tries to pull his hand out, his clenched fist is too large for the hole. He is stuck. A predator approaches.
“Drop the rice! Run!” witnesses shout. But the monkey, obsessed with the rice, refuses to let go. He stays trapped by his own hand, choosing the rice over his life.
The Lesson: Yoshi, a young student, asked his master: “What was the trap that killed the monkey? The rice? The pumpkin?” The master replied: “No. The trap was greed. We must learn to let go of the things and thoughts that harm us.”
In modern life, these 'pumpkins' are everywhere: unnecessary consumerism, unpayable debts, and toxic relationships. We think we possess things, but often, they possess us.
I spent the last year 'de-scripting' 16 fables like this in my book 'The Zen Wisdom and the Monkey Mind' by Oeset Drakir.
A gift for this community: To help others find this same clarity, I’m making the book FREE on Amazon for 5 days, starting TOMORROW (Wednesday). You can search for it by name today to see the style, and grab your free copy tomorrow morning.
Let’s learn to drop the 'rice' that is keeping us from being free.